THE NEW YORKER the way to hccoil1e a writer's writer or d critic, but O. Henry was not head d that way. fIe: went tu reality, seeking characters and contrasts- saints and sinners, the affluent and the lowly. At the dinner hour he could be found either at Martin's- of expensive and swagger il1em- ory-or Mouquin's, but more often in the spaghetti joints of the side streets. AFTER Irving Place, O. Henry n. worked at the Caledonia. Except for the meil10rial picture of the author over the fireplace, the lobby of the Caledonia is today just as it looked in 1908, only of course older and sadly out of date. I am sure that the sagging sofa and the tired chairs have with:- stood a quarter of a century of bein bumped and sat upon. On summer nights, upstairs in his apartment, sec- ond-floor front, O. Henry would write till three or four o'clock in the morning and then go over to Madison Square and become one with the bums and the solemn night. It was in the city parks that he met Prince Michael of the Elec- torate of V alleuna, Soapy, and other characters that he so debghtfully por- trayed. Across the hall from his room in the Caledonia lived, and still lives, O. Henry's friend, Captain George D. Pitman, of the Seventh Regiment, New York National Guard, who still has tender memories of this No'th Ca'lina man of il1odest, quiet il1anners. Con- versing with me, the Captain said: "Over there on that bookshelf was a copy of Burton's 'Arabian Nights.' O. Henry was always borrowing it, his favorite pick from il1Y library." \Vhen O. Henry's first book, "Cabbages and Kings," was published, he handed an autographed copy to Captain Pitman and said: "Not so much. If you don't care for it, put it on the floor for a d " oorstop. At this time he would agree to write a story if the editor would give him a retainer. He always needed advance pay. As a result, one retainer spent, he would promise a new story for an- other editor for an advance-and then he was harassed by letters nd telephone calls from magazine offices wanting to know when that story would be fin- ished, and of course they had a right to know. He never did complete some of the stories ordered by the Delineator, Everybodv's, and other magazines by which he had been staked thousands of dollars. Hampton's Magazine ad- . .....-u._.... ... >:....: : .:': " ..:. .:. . :::: '. ';;r> i: 'jiS;\ .x,' *i ;" I "':-1i w:{î.\:' "::Î:1 ilil 11 }!:'-. :-'0..:'.:" ...':(......... :...ßtt1 f; . '."" ' ,l:':';'" r;:ï "' ' ':"' \,<-:'., , t.. :;.,::'",:, :}:r , ' " : . ' . , ?" . : , : " , , . : . ' . . ; . . . i , ':, \\ :'L" -'. '....:. ... ,." . '"" _ f " 7 ,H ' "" :';:'\:tf ju _<, h ,,'.'. ! .;:(:;":; ;....l::::.:::: ....... ..:-:.......... ... { ' ,... \J t ..t' .....Ii', .., \ j }D I_t " ' .f/.' , :,' ',:" ,..., .. "I' i[ r 1 , ;' ( ''It. 'l ",' :P !'i f /: , : " Jr! ; \ .:.. 1ij /,:' i<!,:^ði ",i "ii;: . ' ': :;i,ii::;:r\:. :: J.f:;.' . : .,::; ; . < ', -:x /-:. , ,'..", .. ...'.n. .*. ' / k" ii t , i ^'. ; Gi j;, :; i"'" ( .;..' '; :;:: '.of:;:-:: -:;:. .. . ,.ï " '''':','/ \ J<<t;fti . :..... ............... r^' '" ',.,,;, .,.,..'.',,, 'JI: ': .:;:::. .,.,. iL1 ((Doesn't it frighten /\"ou Edward when of' ) you stop to think that we are only an aton ?)' ,1 8 - --. ---;.:.::.==-,,: .::::. :: :,:, i :1i < ::.:.: 4 :'